Review: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I struggled with rating this one … it’s really more of a 3 and a half for me but I bumped it up as it was a book that led to an interesting conversation among those I buddy read it with. Some of my issues with the novel had to do with how jumpy the narrative felt as I read it. And the characters just never came together for me - it took me forever to get my head wrapped around who was who. I think perhaps focusing on fewer characters might have helped with that. Although I’m glad that the book explored the idea of the expectations of motherhood, I don’t know that it’s innovatively handled in this one. It didn’t say anything new. That isn’t a bad thing … it’s just that the novel didn’t blow me away with it’s perspective.

And yet, the exploration of motherhood and society’s expectations of mothers to be perfect was quite good and great for conversation. I’m really sick of this idea that the mom and her behavior are analyzed unrealistically by the media (there is a Nancy Grace-like character in this book that whips the public into a frenzy by blaming the mother). Let’s just accept that mothering is HARD work and no mother is perfect. And that doesn’t mean any mother deserves bad things to happen to her or her children.

But, all in all, this is a fine book. Not a favorite but I’m glad that I read it. If the premise sounds good to you, I suggest you give it a shot. I also think it could make for a good book club book, especially for a book club full of mothers!